A young writer with a passion.

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Setting Priorities

The pace of my days has felt so different in the last week. After the first two months of this school year, my parents and I came to the conclusion that I simply couldn’t handle my schedule. It wasn’t just school (which in and of itself was a whopping load of homework each week). It was my concertmaster position, it was all my other violin practicing, it was my book outline sitting on my desk untouched.

Something had to give.

But it was no easy decision knowing what to force out of my schedule. I didn’t really love the idea of dropping my Advanced Composition class. Dropping violin wasn’t an option. And my other classes were pretty essential.

But when months passed without having any time to work on my book or anything else (like SAT prep, driver’s training, and cleaning my room), I knew I had to make the hard decision.

As of Thursday, I switched to audit mode for my Advanced Composition class. I am getting my English and composition credits from another class, but I didn’t feel like my writing skills were as up to par as they could be (thus the decision to take the course). But my writing was a higher priority for me. So was completing drivers training and actually doing well on the SAT. Plus, I can graduate without it. I’m still going to classes and studying various forms of compositions, but I’m not spending eight hours a week on essays.

These past couple days have been awesome. Because my school schedule has lightened up a little big, I’ve actually been able to figure out what I need to do for Driver’s Ed and I had a date this afternoon with my book. It rocked.

People look at me like I have four heads when they find out I dropped a class in order to have more time to write. But to me, it makes perfect sense. What’s more important? Finishing a course that wasn’t absolutely essential to my graduation and that was taking up so much of my time? Or honing skills that I plan on using for the rest of my life?

It wasn’t easy, but I had to keep my priorities straight. As H.L. Hunt said, “Decide what you want, decide what you are willing to exchange for it. Establish your priorities and go to work.”

And honestly, one of my priorities is not being driven insane by a crazy schedule that cramps my time with my family and God.